Union alarm bells

One thing that might prevent Labour governing Britain again is the matter of who governs Labour. In the aftermath of the Falkirk scandal, in which the Unite union was accused of trying to fix a parliamentary candidate selection, Ed Miliband pledged to end machine politics. Individual union members would no longer automatically donate money to Labour but instead be invited to “opt in” to do so. And when it came to selecting the party leader, voting strongly influenced by the preferences of the union bosses would be replaced by one member, one vote. On the face of it, the arrangement sounded like a breakthrough for democracy.

But the news that Len McCluskey, the combative general secretary of Unite, calls the changes “music to my ears” ought to set alarm bells ringing. For a start, it seems that alterations to the financial arrangements largely won’t come into effect until 2020 – so it is business as usual for the next election. When they do happen, they could actually strengthen Mr McCluskey’s power because money that is not voluntarily given to Labour will go into the union’s coffers instead. According to Professor Roger Seifert, an expert in industrial relations, the money is likely to end up being donated to Labour anyway and “the bargaining position of the union leadership may be strengthened, particularly… in terms of what is in the manifesto.”

Meanwhile, one member, one vote is calculated – by Mr Miliband no less – to increase union activists’ votes in any potential leadership contest from 33 per cent of the total cast to around 50 per cent. This puts even greater power into the hands of activists, including any militants that might be in the public sector. So much for democracy: a country governed by Labour is a country governed by the machine.